At the 110th Pennsylvania Farm Show, Penn Vet and Agriculture Make For A Winning Partnership. And Don’t Forget the Milkshakes.

Growing up in a small farming community in Lancaster County, Gavi Burton, 19, has always known what she wants to be.

“I want to be a large animal veterinarian,” said Burton, who is earning her undergraduate degree online and works 30 hours a week as a veterinary technician. “I’ve wanted to be that since I was little.”

So one day this week, during a visit to the 110^th Pennsylvania Farm Show, Burton and her parents decided to stop by the booth of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet). They thought maybe someone there could give them a little information, perhaps a flyer.

They didn’t expect Andrew Hoffman, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. Actually, make that Hoffman and Barbara Dallap Schaer, New Bolton Center hospital director and Associate Dean for Clinical Education and Operations. Both were happy to answer the hopeful future veterinarian’s questions.

“It was super cool!” Burton said. “It was very encouraging. I’m very excited.”

“I really like talking to young people who aspire to be in the field,” said Hoffman, a former practicing large animal veterinarian. “I could do this all day. I love it.”

Visiting the Farm Show holds other joys, too.

“I love coming here because it’s the agriculture industry. It’s farming. It’s why I got into veterinary medicine,” he said. “Coming here reminds me of why I got into veterinary medicine.”

Just as Penn Vet has been a partner in Pennsylvania agriculture since its founding in 1884, the School has been an integral part of the Pennsylvania Farm Show. At this year’s show, which ran from January 10 to 17, celebrating our country’s 250^th anniversary with the theme “Growing A Nation,” Penn Vet proudly displayed its many contributions to the state’s over $132 billion agriculture sector, as well as Pennsylvania’s rich animal culture.

Sharing stories and manifesting what makes Pennsylvania special

“There are few annual events we get to enjoy in our state that provide an opportunity for people to manifest the things that make Pennsylvania special like the Pennsylvania Farm Show,” said Roderick Gilbert, Penn Vet Assistant Dean for Community and Engagement.

“We encounter so many stories from clients, elected officials, or simply folks who just want to say ‘hello’ and explore what the School of Veterinary Medicine does for the state,” Gilbert said.

Over the course of the show, which is the nation’s biggest indoor agricultural exposition, spanning 24 acres, Penn Vet faculty, staff and leadership met with lots of young people interested in becoming veterinarians. They provided information and encouragement, especially to those students interested in becoming farm veterinarians, an area of great need.

They also spoke with many other show attendees about the School’s numerous programs and initiatives.

Among those contributions are world-class veterinary education, disease surveillance and diagnostic testing to ensure a safe and abundant food supply, biosecurity protocols, and large and small animal veterinary care, including its Field Services team which provided care to nearly 24,000 on-farm animals last year.

Of course, there’s nothing like seeing. Tuesday morning of show week, a lot of folks got to experience something very special.

At this fair, the animals steal the show

Mary Jane Drake, Assistant Professor of Clinical Food Animal Field Service, was staffing the show’s Calving Corner exhibit when two Holsteins, Bertha and Pebbles both went into labor at the same time. Pebbles gave birth to her calf, later named Quartz, at about 8:35 a.m. Then Bertha laid down to have her baby.

An experienced mother, Bertha delivered that calf – Lily – with just a little assist from Drake, but the veterinarian said the baby was bit small for a Holstein. She suspected twins. Sure enough, another labor ensured. By about 9:30, Moo-ana was born.

“When the second calf came out, I remember a distinct applause and cheer from the crowd,” said Drake. “There were probably 500 people watching with two sets of stadium seating full. For many of the spectators, it’s the first time they’ve seen a cow give birth.”

Over at the Pennsylvania Pork Producers Council exhibition, there were also a lot of ‘awww’s and ‘oooo’s; 11 piglets born just a couple weeks before on January 1, were nursing from their sow mom or huddled together, napping.

The pigs came from an area farm, but Penn Vet’s Meghann Pierdon, Assistant Professor of Clinical Production Medicine and an advisor to the pork producer council, was on hand to answer any questions people might have.

“For me at the University, a big part of my job is supporting Pennsylvania agriculture and pig farmers,” said Pierdon.

At the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture exhibit, a Penn Vet alumna was doing her alma mater proud.

Lucky, a German Shepherd trained at Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center, was on hand with her human partner, Shane Philipps, a state compliance and enforcement program specialist.  

Her job, Philipps explained, is detecting lantern fly and box tree moth eggs usually in the products and vehicles of companies that move them from one area to another. She sniffs them out.

“Lucky can sniff places that we can’t see very well,” Philipps said. The companies “are inspecting their products for eggs with their eyes. She can smell in cracks and crevices, places they can’t see. And they” – the critters – “love to put their eggs in those type of places.”

Lucky’s job at the Farm Show, however, was basically to be good girl, which she was managing to do quite well for the most part. She did bark a bit at the occasional service dog that passed by.

“She wants to play,” Philipps said.

Throughout the Farm Show, there were loads of examples of Pennsylvania’s rich animal and farming culture, as well as its bounty.

There was Angorapalooza – rabbit breeders weaving fibers from those supremely soft bunnies on their looms. There was also Sheep-to-Shawl, an event that involved an impressive display of speed-shearing sheep and teams of artisans spinning and weaving piles of wool into competition-worthy scarves. For equine lovers, there was the “Greatest Show on Dirt” – high skill rodeo events. And for those who yearned for a more personal experience, there was Kiss A Cow and Baby Goat Snuggling.

The show’s massive butter sculpture is an eagerly awaited annual event. Suffice to say the American Dairy Association North East did not disappoint with this year’s 1,000-pound carving. In keeping with the show’s 2026 theme, Jim Victor and Marie Pelton of Conshohocken spent 14 days crafting a buttery likeness of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, including the Liberty Bell.

After the close of the Farm Show, the sculpture was slated to be recycled into energy at Reinford Farms in Juniata County. The butter will be placed in the farm’s methane digester, which converts manure and food waste into energy that provides power to the farm and homes in the local community.

And speaking of dairy, no visit to the Farm Show is complete without one of its famous milkshakes. The Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, known to churn out over 20,000 shakes a day during the show, also embraced this year’s patriotic theme.

In addition to the conventional chocolate and choco-nilla flavor options, the many folks who eagerly queued up for their Farm Show shake this year also could choose from red (strawberry), white (vanilla), or blue (blue raspberry) milkshakes. And the proceeds went toward agriculture and education. As the sellers say in their slogan, “Every Shake Supports a Cause!”

Of course, animals from Pennsylvania farms were what the show’s attendees ultimately had to thank for all these wonders.

Back at the Calving Corner, the morning after Bertha gave birth to her twins, another Holstein, Pickle went into labor. Her owners, the Sweigart family whose fourth-generation dairy farm is in Mount Joy, were on hand. They were expecting one calf. Guess again.

At 9:51 a.m., a little heifer they named Olive was born.

And then at 10:22 a.m. – surprise! – out came a baby bull. They named him Dill.

“The outcome was ideal,” said a happy Neal Sweigart, one of the owners.

At the calves’ pen, show-goers had their phones out to capture the twins’ first steps.

“It’s just precious. I’m so glad I came,” said Kay Veranka, 62, a retiree from the Lehigh Valley. “I did goat snuggling, Kiss the Cow. This was more important.”